Friday, June 13, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Under Russian Occupation, Crimea’s Ports Now ‘Danger Zone’ for International Shipping

Paul
Goble

Staunton, June 13 – Under
international maritime law and given insurance rules, ship owners may soon find
it more risky to send their vessels into the ports of Russian-occupied Crimea
than they would dispatching them into war zones, according to an analysis by a
Russian maritime expert.

That is because, Mikhail Voytenko
says in a comment in “Novaya gazeta,” the United Nations and hence the
International Maritime Organization have not recognized Russia’s occupation as
legitimate and because Ukraine declared in May that it does not at present
control the situation (novayagazeta.ru/economy/63980.html).

These actions have real
consequences, he continues. On the one hand, they mean that “the IMO must
recommend to the vessels of all countries which are member countries to avoid
going into the water of the Crimea and Crimean ports” because of a lack of
certainty about who is in control.

And on the other hand, any shipping
company which ignores such an advisory would face a situation in which international
insurance agencies would not cover losses that its vessels might incur (unlike
in a war zone) and that Kyiv would have the right to seize the vessels involved
or the property on its territory of the owners of those vessels.

In short, Voytenko says, “for the
entire world shipping community, Crimea would officially become a danger zone.”
Those who avoid the ports altogether will be safer from lawsuits and losses, he
says, and some larger companies may create daughter companies to isolate any
losses they might suffer for one set of ships by protecting others.

Moreover, he points out, “Russia of course
has levers to put pressure on Ukraine to look through its fingers at violators.”Although Kyiv cannot unilaterally lift the
IMO sanctions, it can choose not to enforce them lest Russia seize Ukrainian ships
in the Sea of Azov which Russia controls by virtue of its control of the Kerch
Straights.

But whatever happens, Voytenko
argues, “the fate of the Crimean ports is not an enviable one. They have become
outcasts. Neither the vessels of normal shipping companies nor investors are
going to come.Only one thing can save
them – the establishment between Russia and Ukraine of some relatively normal
ties.”

Moscow must thus decide what is more
important to it, the expert on maritime law says, its imperial desires “or a
return to good sense” in which some kind of order exists.